Top 10 apps for kids to learn English
These days there are so many apps for kids to learn English it almost seems unfair! When I was a child, I had to take out a dictionary and a heavy grammar coursebook if I wanted to learn a language. Oh, how times have changed! Now there are apps and services for all ages, even services to rewrite my essay if I need help with that.
Here are our recommendations for children’s apps to learn English in three categories:
- Very young learners aged 3-6
- Young learners 6-12
- Older kids 12 -16
Top three apps for kids aged 3-6
General learning app: SplashLearn is one of the best English learning apps, catering to pre-K to Grade 5 students. With a wide array of engaging resources, including ELA games, worksheets, and live classes, it covers a comprehensive range of topics from phonics to sight words. Thanks to its algorithm, SplashLearn ensures a personalized and effective learning experience for young learners to master English skills with confidence.- English vocabulary app: First Words for Baby from Androbaby. A flashcard app for small children. There are 11 topics with over 100 flashcards in total. While this app is great for parents to play with the children, it’s not the best app for very young children to learn English on their own. The cute pictures and interesting sound effects are what make this app really attractive to the young ones! Check it out in the play store.
Reading app for very young kids: Learn to Read with Tommy Turtle from Intellijoy Educational Games for Kids. This game is truly excellent. It is one of the best apps for kids to learn English on the market. Highly recommendable to teach very young children to read in English. It starts by teaching individual sounds and has fun games to move on to connecting sounds and reading. Native speakers with an American accent present the basic reading concepts in this wonderful app for kids. It helps children to learn English reading and spelling. The lite version is free or the full version costs around 3 euros. Get it here in for Android.
General learning app: Children’s play and learning from Family Play Ltd. This cowboy-themed English language app helps the littlest of ones learn to count and recognise number and letter sounds and patterns. Kids learn about numbers, smallest and largest, order and sequences. It’s a fantastic way to introduce small children to English and reinforce simple maths skills at the same time. Take a look for your self in the google play store.
Top three apps for young learners
English Vocabulary App: Puzzle game from MagikApp. This app has different puzzles and activities based on matching words with images. It’s fun and kids can use it independently because it is simple to use. Most users rate it as very useful and give it 4 – 5 stars. The app is FREE and uses standard American pronunciation. The best part about the app is the offline mode so your kids can learn English in the car or even in the supermarket! Find it here on the play store.
English Reading app: English for kids from Bibo. The main features of this game are the images and sounds which are specifically designed for young children. Parents can trust the that children are learning English with age-appropriate material. The game is super fun, and kids will stay glued to the screen – absorbing the language as they play along with the fun activities. On the downside, this App to learn English has ads in addition to in-app purchasing. Try the app out in the play store here.
English Grammar App: Learn English with Johnny Grammar. The old favourite British council brought this app out to help kids with basic English grammar. The app speaks in a perfect British accent and there are no mistakes in any of the scripts. It is good because it helps children start to think in English as they learn grammar rules. The main complaint in the reviews is the number of ads, but it does tend to run pretty fast and the graphics are fantastic. Take a look here.
Top three apps for older children learning English
English test questions app: English Proficiency Test from Apps2all. This is a really useful app especially if you want to prepare for one of the official exams like TOEIC or the Cambridge first. It has multiple choice questions which make you think about various aspects of the English language. Each level (A, B and C) has got over 1500 multiple choice exercises which will boost your teen’s confidence as they prepare to take exams. Download it here.
Learn English through science: Quiz biology from smart quiz apps. Older kids and teens can learn English really fast by studying school subjects, rather than studying English grammar. This app is great for both kids and teenagers who have a keen interest in Biology. However, it is the colourful designs and eye-catching graphics make learning with English exciting and fun! The only negative point about this app is that the content is 100% written material. There is now spoken or audio content. See what you think. 
Movies and TV in English APP: English movies subtitle from mobile.apps99. The developers claim that this app helps teens practice all aspects of speaking – by watching movies every day with subtitles, children learn idioms, grammar, vocabulary, and of course speaking skills. Older kids can watch, but not download movies using the app. If it sounds too good to be true, check it out here.
The very best app to learn English of course its Skype
There’s no way that we could write an article about the top 10 apps for kids to learn English without mentioning our beloved Skype. We have hundreds of happy children who have spent many funfilled hours with us learning via Skype the different aspects of the English language. Our method of games and activities means that no child is too young to start learning English with a native teacher – and that, in conclusion, is what we would like to say. That there are some fantastic applications out there for kids to learn English using technology. However, there is, of course, no substitute for a real native English speaker giving a one to one personalised class direct to your child in the comfort and safety of your own home. Furthermore, this luxury language immersion is available at a cost much more affordable than you might have imagined. So if you haven’t got skype on your PC, phone and tablet, go ahead and download it now – and request your free kid’s English trial right away.
This article was written by Elizabeth Drayton, teacher trainer at Break into English.